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North American Works Directory Listing
| Composer: |
Douglas Moore
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| Composer Bio: |
Douglas Moore is an acclaimed American composer, teacher, and author. Born in Cutchogue, NY he attended the Hotchkiss School before earning two degrees from Yale University where he studied with Horatio Parker. He served as a lieutenant in the Navy before moving to Paris to study composition under Nadia Boulanger, Vincent d’Indy, and Ernest Bloch.
His debut as a composer and conductor came in 1923 when he conducted his Four Museum Pieces with the Cleveland Orchestra. It won him a Pulitzer Traveling Fellowship which he used to travel back to Europe to continue study with Boulanger. A few years later he began teaching music at Columbia University where he remained until his retirement in 1962. He was a popular teacher who often included studies of contemporary music. Outside the realm of classical music, Moore also wrote popular songs in collaboration with John Jacob Niles and childhood friend Archibald MacLeish. He wrote two books on music Listening to Music and From Madrigal to Modern Music.
Moore was revered in his Long Island hometown of Cutchogue. He died in the Eastern Long Island Hospital in the neighboring village of Greenport, Long Island in 1969.
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| Librettist: |
Stephen Vincent Benet
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| Other Artistic Personnel: |
Fritz Reiner (Conductor)
John Houseman (Stage Director)
Robert Edmond Jones (Designer)
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| Original Cast: |
John Gurney (Jabez Stone)
Nancy McCord (Mary Stone)
Lansing Hatfield (Daniel Webster)
George Raseley (Mr. Scratch)
Fred Stewart (The Fiddler)
Clair Kramer (Justice Hathorne)
Edward Marshall (Clerk of the Court)
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| Premiere Date: |
May 18, 1939
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| Producing Company: |
American Lyric Theater
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| Description: |
The neighbors of Cross Corners are celebrating the marriage of Jabez and Mary Stone. Jabez is extremely successful in life, and there is talk of his running for Governor. Daniel Webster, the New England hero, appears as a guest at the party. Another guest, a Boston lawyer named Scratch, carries a black collecting box under his arm. Scratch's appearance terrifies Jabez, whose song horrifies the neighbors. A lost soul, in the form of a moth, flies out of the collecting box. The neighbors, realizing that Jabez has sold his soul to the Devil, denounce him and flee. Left alone with Mary, Jabez tells of how he came to make his bargain. They appeal to Daniel Webster, who promises to help them. When Webster demands a trial for his client, Scratch summons a jury of famous American traitors and renegades as well as a hanging judge who presided at the Salem witch trials. It is a jury of damned souls, and Webster seems about to lose-not only the case, but his own soul's salvation when, by his powers of oratory, he finally turns the tables on Scratch and rescues Jabez. The neighbors rush in to drive the Devil out of New Hampshire. -Stephen Vincent Benet
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| Character List (Major): |
Daniel Webster (bar)
Mr. Scratch (t)
Jabez Stone (b)
Mary Stone (mz)
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| Character List (Minor): |
Clerk (bar)
Blackbeard Teach (bar)
King Philip (b)
Simon Girty (t)
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| Bit Parts: |
Voice of Miser Stevens/Voice of Moth (t)
A Fiddler (speaking)
Justice Hawthorne (speaking)
Walter Butler (speaking)
1st Woman (s)
2nd Woman (s)
3rd Woman (s)
1st Man (b)
2nd Man (b)
3rd Man (b)
4th Man (speaking)
Old Man (t)
Old Woman (mz)
A Voice (speaking)
Another Voice (speaking)
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| Reviews: |
Opera News, 2-17-96
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| Chorus: |
SATBB, minimum 24
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| Orchestration: |
2 fl (picc), 2 ob, 2 cl (bcl), 2 bsn - 2 hrn, 2 tpt, tbn - hp, timp, perc, str; Red Orch: fl, ob, cl, bsn - hrn, tpt, tbn, perc, str
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| Musical Style: |
Tonal; distinctive style influenced by patterns of traditional American folk tunes, hymns, and popular songs
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| Contact: |
Boosey & Hawkes, Inc.
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| Address: |
229 W 28th Street, Floor 11
New York, NY 10001
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| Phone: |
212-358-5300
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What is OPERAAmerica.org?
Spring 2013 Magazine Issue
- Letter from the President/CEO
- Of One: The Quest for Asian Fusion in the Opera House
- Vancouver: Where Nature Nurtures Art
- Inheriting the Wind
- My First Time
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